Not many women embodied the saying that ‘behind every success man is a woman’ better than Mulikat Abike Balogun, who was recognised as the boulder that aided the legendary Teslim ‘Thunder’ Balogun to success in his football career in the 1950s up to the 1960s.

Alhaja Mulikat got married to Thunder Balogun in 1955 and joined the football maestro in London in 1956, where he was already playing professional football in the English League.

A former table tennis player, Mulikat met her husband through the late Chief Molade Okoya Thomas, the Asoju Oba of Lagos, a table tennis enthusiast, who would go on to establish the Asoju Oba Table Tennis Championship in 1968.

Although Mulikat was a table tennis player, she grew to love football and became her husband’s first fan.

Former Super Eagles World Cup coach Adegboye Onigbinde once said legendary Teslim ‘Thunder’ Balogun was a successful footballer because of the contribution and support he got from his wife.

Onigbinde insists that the success attained by Balogun might not have gone the distance, if he had married another wife.

“Back as 1958, it was Mulikat, who the then Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, sought help from to convince her husband to dump his British club, Queens Park Rangers, to return to Nigeria to assist the West Region to win the Challenge Cup,” Onigbinde recalled.

“Mulikat convinced her husband and he returned to help the West win the title,” Onigbinde said.

Mulikat was Balogun’s closest confidant but could not understand what caused her husband’s death as he did not give any sign of ill health before they fell asleep in the wee hours of July 30, 1972.

Shortly before her demise on May 26, 1998, Alhaja Mulikat recalled that in the early hours of July 30, she spoke and chatted with her husband, till about 2:30am.

“He was hale and hearty, without any untoward medical history,” she recalled.

As devastating as the death of her husband was, Mulikat braced up to the challenge of single motherhood and excelled creditably. With seven boys and one girl, the eldest, Tunde, who was about 14 years old, she fought the odds to bring up her children to become successful adults.

Reminiscing on the impact his mother played on their lives, one of the sons, Kayode, said during the week: “She supported the boys in our football careers. I played for Abiola Babes and Water Cooperation FC, up to the national team level. Bioye, who played for Shooting Stars, is now in the US.

“Apart from allowing most of us to take to football, our mother also ensured that we got the best of education.”
Kayode added, “everything good that was going on about my father, you could not remove my mom from it.”

One of the die-hard fans of the late Thunder Balogun, Rafiu Ladipo, who is also the President General of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club as well as the president of the Nigeria Boxing Board of Control, confirmed the role of the ‘football mother’ on her husband: “If there were top decisions made by Teslim Balogun that lifted him to become one of Nigeria’s greatest footballers of all time, they were due to the influence of his wife, who stood firmly by him with humour, humility and discipline.

“She accompanied her husband to all his training sessions when he finally returned to Nigeria. She was always there to quietly point out areas where her husband didn’t do well in training and this helped tremendously during competitive games.

“At a time, Thunder Balogun was very reluctant to play for the Red Devils of Nigeria, it was Alhaja Mulikat who insisted that the legend must represent his country and ‘Thunder’ afterwards played several important matches for Nigeria.”

Looking forward to the 27th anniversary of his mother’s passing, which is slated for tomorrow, Kayode lamented the government’s neglect of his family that did everything to project the country’s image positively.

“Although I appreciate the effort of the Lagos State government for renovating the Teslim Balogun Stadium, which is named after my father, I must register our frustration with successive governments, at state and federal levels, that has forgotten the Teslim Balogun family.

“We remember the sacrifices our parents made while serving Nigeria. Today they are forgotten.

“I remember my mother for being an intelligent, hardworking and committed woman who stood by her husband and also ensured that we all got quality education. I give her kudos.”

On the 27th anniversary of her death, which will be marked with prayers and other activities, Kayode said, “The family is going to have a prayer and probably stage a novelty match in her memory. We do this every year since her death and for our father too. They will remain evergreen in our minds.”